Swim Team 2011

Emma, Lauren, and Ellie all did swim team again this year. They have all improved a great deal and are becoming quite good swimmers. Emma's best and favorite stroke is back stroke. Lauren is best at freestyle and Ellie is becoming quite the "fly" girl winning several blue ribbons in this event. Butterfly is a stroke that many young swimmers shy away from. It requires a good deal of upper body strength and a mermaid kick. I'm sure the constant gymnastics and swimming with the mermaid flippers that went on this summer gave her a huge advantage in this event. On the last meet she wanted to "swim up" on the butterfly (compete against older kids because the round is a 50 meter instead of 25, adding more of a challenge), but her coach wouldn't let her because the team relies on her win in that event which brings the team score up. I think she was probably one of the best fly swimmers in her age group in the county. We didn't actually do the all-county meet, so I'm not sure, but she beat nearly everyone she swam against at the meets. Way to go, girls!

Summer Fun

Lauren and Ellie spent most of the summer swimming and flipping. Here is Lauren demonstrating the mermaid fins.
And Ellie demonstrating the skill she worked all summer at: a back walk-over. Since I recorded this she has also mastered doing the back bend from a standing position and then doing the walk-over. She's becoming quite the gymnast with only the neighbor friend as a teacher.

Family Reunion

Right after school started I got to fly to Utah to have a luau with my family. It was so fun to see everyone. It's never quite enough. I wish I could have brought the kids, but they hate missing school and it just didn't seem worth it for just a couple of days. But it was a nice and relaxing time for me. Thank you JH for putting it all together.

For a better description of the fun read here.

After the Recital

I love 'em.

Dance Recital

Ellie's dance recital was right in the middle of summer. She had a tap routine and a ballet routine. It's just cute. She's taking a break from dance this year. More on that later.

A Day At the Museum

This is one of the coolest places in our city. It's an old (10 story?) warehouse or something that has been changed into a huge children's (and adult's) museum. It's made up of amazing climbing structures that take you from floor to floor, giant slides that take you many stories down, one even goes from the top to the bottom in a winding slide, a circus performed by local kids who learn at the circus school there, and many other super cool things. You could spend a couple days there and probably not see everything.

We went with our new friend, Bella. She is the niece of a co-worker of Richard's. She spent a few days hanging out with us this summer because her aunt thought it would be more fun to play with us than sit at the office while she worked all day. She was right. We had fun with her.

Amazing Race Cake

Lauren's friend, Ryan, had an Amazing Race birthday party and they asked me to make the cake. This is simple, but that's what they wanted. Thanks for the fun party Ryan!

Lauren is Cute

We bought these cool wrap around skirts that can be worn 101 ways. This is one variation on Lauren. Love it. These dresses look good on everyone. I'll try to remember to take a picture of all of us wearing one. It's fun. Probably available at a kiosk in your mall.

Shalyn turns 17

Shalyn moved in just in time to have her birthday with us.
She wanted red velvet cake.

We went out to eat at Longhorn Steakhouse. Yumm! Then home for cake.

She got swim goggles from Richard. This girl can rock some goggles.

Adorable.

Meet Shalyn

Who is Shalyn? She's that cute girl in the yellow dress. She is our new houseguest for the next year.
Here's the story: She's a senior this year. Her family moved away. She's Maddie's friend. They hatched a plan. She lives with us now.
It's going very well. She's fun to have around. She misses her pets badly. No, we're not getting one just for her.

Harry Potter Opening Night

Everyone got into the spirit of HP for the midnight showing of the final chapters. Maddie and Shalyn went with friends and Emma and I went with other friends. Can you tell who everyone is?
(Sybill Trelawney, Minerva McGonagall, and Hogwarts student)

A Day At The Park

Butterfly House 2011

We made another trip to the Butterfly House. I love the flowers every bit as much as the butterflies. That butterfly landed on me and stayed for several minutes. (Oddly, a few weeks later we went to Six Flags and a butterfly landed on me there and stayed with me a good 10 min. or so.) I guess I attract butterflies.
Lauren and Ellie decided to toughen up this year and "face their fears"---BUTTERFLIES! Lauren did very well. Ellie is still not a fan. I still can't quite figure out what is so terrifying, but the fear is real.

Kiara turns 16

And who is Kiara? She is Maddie's adorable friend who used to be our neighbor. They've moved away, but those two have been able to find a way to get together a few times since the big move.
This summer, Kiara got to spend a month with us. It was a surprise for Maddie and what a wonderful surprise it was.

Kiara turned 16 while staying with us. She designed the cake and I made it for her. We had a party with some of her friends. Low key, but a fun get-together.

4th of July

Blueberry Buckle Dessert

Red, White, and Blue Pancakes

Ellie marched in the parade. We all watched.

Tons of fireworks visible from our house-love that.
Emma at EFY.
Rainy day that got super hot.
Grateful for our great country!

Chicago

While Emma was away at Youth Conference, the rest of us went to Chicago. Maddie decided to miss YC in order to visit her friends and tour Columbia College (her school of choice right now).

We stayed in a beautiful hotel downtown (Palmer House Hilton), ate at our favorite spots (Pizzanos mainly), toured Columbia (cool school, super pricey, yikes), Taste of Chicago, Millenium Park, shopping, etc. We had a great time. I love that city. We also caught a showing of Peter Pan. Waaaaaay better than I thought it would be. I'm so glad we did that. Truly enjoyable for kids and adults. Maddie was able to spend most of the time with her friends. Richard drove out in the morning and brought them back to the city so they could explore Chicago instead of Plainfield.

Chicago 2011

Emma Sings

I must have heard at least 20 times this past year, "I don't have any talent." "I'm the only one in the family who can't sing." "I'm terrible at singing. Everyone sings better than me." No amount of reassurance could convince her that she was just as capable and talented as anyone else. She's great. It came as no surprise to me when she had a few big wins in the singing dept. recently.
1) She got the Certificate of Special Recognition by her choir teacher, given to only one student per grade.
2) She got the Certificate of Excellence in choir which is a certificate given to only one student per grade and voted by peers as a person who the kids think was the best prepared, behaved, someone who attended all concerts, a good singer, and someone who could be looked up to.
3) She auditioned for and was accepted into the Rising Generation Choir, which is a highly competitive LDS youth choir in the area. There were only 3 female spots available and many girls auditioned. Big Win!

I hope she's getting the message loud and clear that she is, indeed, talented. Yay for Emma!

School Art

More cute art projects. Check out Ellie's 2nd grade art. There seems to be a theme and I can't help singing, "One of these girls is not like the others. . ." Can you see it? Yup, she's got a thing for blonde hair. I think the rainbow face girl went along with a story and she had to make it look like the girl in the book A Bad Case Of Stripes. Otherwise, she too would have blonde hair, no doubt.
Lauren's gangster turkey deserves mention too. They get this project every year: dress the turkey in disquise so it won't be eaten for Thanksgiving. Lauren thought up gangster turkey. How does she come up with this stuff?